Under European Commission proposals, which must be approved by EU fisheries ministers, 8,600 fishing vessels would be withdrawn from service and subsidies for building or upgrading boats would be scrapped.
Introducing the proposals yesterday, the Agriculture Commissioner, Mr Franz Fischler, said they were necessary to preserve dwindling fish stocks.
"It's make or break time for EU fisheries. If we want to give our fishermen a future, we need a new Common Fisheries Policy. Either we have the courage to make bold reforms now, or we watch the demise of our fisheries sector in the years ahead. The desperate race for fish has to stop," he said.
The proposed overhaul would be the biggest reform of Europe's fishing industry for 30 years and it would require tens of thousands of fishermen to seek work in other sectors.
Subsidies would be diverted to social welfare schemes aimed at retraining fishermen and to developing industries such as aquaculture.
The reform plan faces opposition from Spain, Portugal, Italy, France and Ireland, and the Spanish Transport Commissioner, Ms Loyola De Palacio, has written two letters to Mr Fischler complaining about it.
Spain's fisheries minister, Mr Miguel Arias Canete, was quick to condemn the plan yesterday.
"We get the impression the European Commission has scientific reports that do not reflect the reality of stocks compared with the reports we get from boat owners and fishermen," he said.
The Portuguese Fisheries Secretary, Mr Luis Frazao Gomes, said the plan spelt "death foretold" to his country's fishing industry but Mr Fischler insisted it was in the interests of both fishermen and fish.
"Both fishermen and fish have the same problem. If we continue as we are doing now, both of them will tend to disappear.
"Anybody telling fishermen that they can have a future, without taking measures to better protect fish stocks or without reducing fishing effort, is doing them a disservice," he said.
